Adding a task

This article is the central guide for adding tasks in Scoro and completing task details.

1. Where do you want to create your task?

Depending on your workflow needs, you can add tasks manually, break existing work into smaller pieces, or use automated options to generate tasks.

• Creating regular (standalone) tasks:
  You can create a new regular task from scratch from the site menu, task list, contact list, or project task list. See our Ways to create regular tasks for more guidance.
• Break down an existing task further with subtasks:
  You can create subtasks from the task detailed view (of a regular or parent task), the project task list, or the Gantt chart. See our Ways to create subtasks article for more guidance.
• Automating task creation:
  Scoro offers multiple ways to automate your task creation:
  • Task bundles: Add a predefined set of tasks to a project or to a contact all at once. Learn more.
  • Recurring tasks: Set up tasks that repeat automatically on a schedule. Learn more.
  • From quotes: Automatically generate tasks based on the services listed in a quote. Learn more.
  • Project templates: Generate an entire list of required tasks and phases when starting a new project. Learn more.
  • Automated tasks based on sent emails: Enable automatic task creation after sending out an email from Scoro. Learn more.

2. Filling out the task details

Most ways of adding a new task will open the task modify view, where you can fill out the task details. If you are creating a task using the quick-add method, which adds it instantly, you can always open the task later to fill in the remaining specifics.

Let's walk through the specifics of filling out various fields in the task modify view:

• Time frame (start date and due date)
• Activity type
• Planned duration
• Billable status
• Personal tasks
• Priority
• Assignees
• Linking a contact and a project
• Adding a task for already completed work
• Notifying task assignees
• Creating an individual task for each user

2.1. Time frame (start date and due date)

Use the Start date and Due date fields in the task modify view to specify the task's time frame. Setting the timeframe lets you ensure that when you filter your tasks by due date, they are displayed in the order they should be done.

You can also enable the Set exact end times for task checkbox under Settings > Work and projects > Calendar and tasks if you wish to specify the exact end time in addition to the due date. Learn more about calendar and task settings.

Here's how the task's time frame works across multiple time zones based on whether the Set exact end times for tasks checkbox is disabled or enabled:

• If the checkbox is disabled, the task's start and due dates are the same regardless of the users' time zones.
• If the checkbox is enabled:
  • The start date is the same for any user, regardless of their time zone.
  • The due date and end time follow the users' time zones.

2.2. Activity type

Use the Activity type field to assign an activity type to the task. Activity types help you sort tasks more easily later, as well as allow for more detailed reporting.

Subtasks automatically inherit the parent task's activity type; however, you can always modify the subtask to select a different one.

For more information, see the Activity types article.

2.3. Planned duration

Use the Planned duration dropdown field to set the time needed to complete the task.

Scoro has additional settings that affect the planned duration of tasks:

• Individual default task duration: You can set a preferred task duration for tasks that automatically applies to all new tasks you create on your site. Learn more in our My calendar and tasks article.
  • If your site uses subtasks, you can set a default duration for tasks (regular and parent tasks) and subtasks.
• Custom split of planned time:
  • If custom split of planned time is enabled on your site, Scoro automatically allocates the task's planned duration to the assignees based on whether your site's planned time preference is equal or custom:
    • Equal split: Scoro automatically splits the planned duration evenly among the assignees.
      
    • Custom split: You can allocate the necessary hours for each assignee by entering the necessary planned hours in the time fields next to the assignees.
  • Regardless of your site's default time-splitting preference, you can always modify the created task to split the planned time as needed. Learn more about the custom split of planned time.

2.4. Billable status

If your site uses billable time, the task modify view includes the Billable field, which lets you determine whether the task's planned time is billable.

When creating a task from scratch, the Billable field is greyed out. You need to link the task to a client (person or company) before you can modify the billable status.

The billable time logic for subtasks follows the same logic as for parent tasks and projects:

• You can customize the billable status for subtasks linked to:
  • parent tasks in client projects (one-off projects and retainers)
  • parent tasks that aren't linked to a project but are linked to a client
• You cannot customize the billable status for subtasks linked to:
  • parent tasks in internal projects
  • parent tasks that aren't linked to a project or client

Learn more about billable time.

2.5. Personal tasks

To ensure the task details are visible only to you, tick the Personal checkbox. Your team members and even the site administrator will only see that the task is personal – nothing else.

Learn more about personal tasks.

2.6. Priority

To make task sorting easier and distinguish more important tasks from the less crucial ones, you can set a priority for the task by ticking the relevant colored checkmark:

• Red – high priority
• Yellow – medium priority
• Blue – low priority

Scoro also lets you set an individual preference for the priority to apply by default to all new tasks. For more information, see our My calendar and tasks article.

2.7. Assignees

Tasks in Scoro can be assigned to users, roles, or left unassigned.

If role assignment to tasks is enabled on your site, you can assign a role to the task to indicate the specialist or skill set required for the task. This allows you to forecast costs before knowing which specific users will work on the task. 

Role avatars include role initials and have a dotted border. This makes it easier to identify the roles and distinguish them from user avatars, which display either the user's profile image or user initials (if the user doesn’t have a profile image).

To assign a user or role, simply click on the necessary role or user in the Assign to section of the task modify view.

You can also:

• Quickly look up a user or role by using the search bar
• Assign the task to yourself right away by clicking the Assign me button
• Assign the task to all users within specific role(s) by ticking the checkbox(es) next to the role name(s)
• Assign the task to all site users at once by ticking the Select all checkbox
• Assign the task to all users in specific user group(s) by clicking the User groups icon (next to the Assign me button) and selecting the necessary group(s)

If you've set the start and due dates for your task, the colored border around each assigned user's avatar indicates their availability within the task's timeframe. As you set the task's planned duration, these hours will be included in the indicator calculation. Use this information to understand whether the assigned users have the capacity to take on the task. Here's what the broder color means:

• Blue – user is below or at their capacity during the selected timeframe
• Red – user is over their capacity during the selected timeframe

Hover over the avatar to see more details on the user's availability.

To remove the assigned user, simply hover over the user avatar and click on it.

To remove the assigned role, click on the role avatar, then click the Remove role from task button.

To replace the assigned role with a specific user:

1. Click on the role avatar under Assign to. Scoro automatically expands the role dropdown to show users with that role.
2. Select the user to assign to the task.

Tasks in Scoro can also be unassigned. For example, a project can create tasks for the entire team and leave them unassigned, after which the team members can assign them to themselves as needed.

When creating a task from scratch, the task is assigned to the task creator by default, but you can change the assignee or click on the task creator's avatar to make the task unassigned.

2.8. Linking a contact, project, quote, and more

In the Links section, you can link the task to a specific client (company or person), project, phase, quote, and other items in Scoro. Click the More dropdown field to see more item linking options.

Subtasks automatically inherit the client (person or company), project, phase, and financial document links from their parent task. These links cannot be modified in the subtask's modify view; to change them, you need to modify the subtask's parent task.

2.9. Adding a task for already completed work

If you're adding a task for something that's already done, tick the Done checkbox below the task's Description box.

When the Done checkbox is enabled, additional fields for registering a time entry will appear, with the duration already filled in based on the time you set in the Planned duration field.

Done tasks go straight into the activity log and work report. 

2.10. Notifying task assignees

When adding a task to someone else's task list, click the Notify button to ensure they're notified in Scoro about this new task.

2.11. Creating an individual task for each user

If your task has multiple assignees, you can tick the Create an individual task for each user checkbox to create a separate task for each assignee.

Learn more about assigning a task to multiple users or roles.